Californians are not too fond of Gov. Jerry Brown so far and they don’t quite understand the state’s budget mess, but they seem to like the ideas that Brown has put on the table for solving the state’s fiscal predicament, according to a new poll from the Public Policy Institute of California.

By a narrow margin, California voters prefer to balance the state's budget with a mix of spending cuts and tax increases, according to a new independent poll released Wednesday. But almost as many people say they would erase the state's entire deficit mostly with spending cuts.

Half of California adults support the federal health reform proposals passed by Congress this week, according to a new independent poll that was taken just before the vote and released today. The survey by the Public Policy Institute of California found that the federal measure to expand coverage and more strictly regulate the insurance industry was supported by 50 percent of adults and opposed by 39 percent. But among likely voters, the proposal was opposed by a narrow margin, 47 percent to 45 percent.